


This Side of Paradise

by ClarkeRipley



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: F/F, yes I couldn't think of a title so I just used a Hayley Kiyoko song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24422926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClarkeRipley/pseuds/ClarkeRipley
Summary: Set directly after the finale. Raelle and Abigail are in deep shit. Scylla is about to murder everyone standing between her and her girlfriend. Anacostia just wants some peace and for people to have an ounce of common sense. Willa and Alder compete for the title of the Shadiest Person Ever and Tally doesn't take well to being a Biddy
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 7
Kudos: 137





	This Side of Paradise

Scylla winced as she pressed the frozen peas to her rapidly swelling eye. Willa Collar may look like a friendly housewife but she had a right hook that hit like a sledgehammer. Granted taking a swing at a Spree leader was not the wisest move but that bitch had put Raelle through hell, she had been devastated over her mother’s death and she had spent quite a few nights crying onto Scylla’s shoulders about it. Her stupid vague threatening commands about Raelle also got Scylla directly imprisoned and tortured but the main point was that she had hurt Raelle . She could see only red and had tried to swung at her but over twenty years of active combat could hardly compared to two years of training at Fort Salem and Willa handled Scylla with barely an effort

Things would have probably been worst if Anacostia hadn’t chosen this moment to get caught. Turns out that the slackers around the house were a lot more capable then one would think given how they look. She should probably be angry that Anacostia had tricked her like this but she was too busy being furious at Willa to have any spare anger. And when it became clear that Anacostia had gone rogue and followed her by herself Scylla could only feel amusement. So it had been real. Anacostia really had gone rogue. She kind loved it and really understood the sentiment after all the shit with Willa. And technically she didn’t really lie. Anacostia had given her a chance as a spy who has spent a big chunk of the last two years lying she could appreciate this little loophole

Amusingly their roles had been reversed now with Anacostia being the prisoner and Scylla the guard. Guard duty was supposed to be her punishment but Scylla was happy to be away from the others, she really needed some time to herself and honestly Anacostia in a weird way had become a friend. Well not exactly a friend but the closest thing Scylla had to a friend in years

“How’s the head?” she asked mockingly

“Still attached” responded Anacostia” Not something I expected”

“I guess the Spree aren’t as savage as you thought we were?”

“Debatable” said Anacostia in her usual dry manner “I must say I prefer our dungeons over this”

The Spree “dungeon” was the basement of the house ,one that clearly hasn’t been cleaned in ages and which was full of old magazines, bottles, various trash and for some reason an entire stack of vacuum cleaners.

“Yeah there is something to be said about the medieval aesthetic “

“Is that shiner because of me?” Anacostia said as she looked at her eye

“No. Let’s just say you are not the only who has a problem with your boss. I just tend to have a more let’s call it pro active approach”

“Did you just mouth off to your Spree commander?”

“Well if you count trying to punch her in the face as mouthing off I guess”

“You….” Anacostia took a deep breath and cursed whatever fate made her watch over girls who seemed absolutely determined to take the dumbest most impulsive decisions on the planet

“Hey on the bright side I am glad I didn’t bring Raelle here. She is better off in War College then with this dick. What? What is this look?” asked a worried Scylla

“The Bellweather Unit didn’t make it to War College. They were assigned to front line combat”

Scylla felt numb. This was not happening. Raelle could not be sent as war meat to some hell hole

“That’s not possible. Raelle is one of the most powerful, one of the most skilled….”

“They were angry at Alder and told General Bellweather about you. She tried to use the information as leverage to bring Alder down. It didn’t work. I suspect that this is her retaliation”

Scylla could feel herself hyperventilating. She tried pacing the room but she only ended stubbing her toe on an old vacuum cleaner

“That bitch is going to kill Raelle. When are they deploying? Where is she sending her? Liberia? Bulgaria? Argentina? Where?”

“It’s too late. They were already deployed yesterday to the Tarim Basin to extract the last of the Tarim”

The Tarim Basin…the fucking Tarim Basin as in one of the most dangerous places on Earth. There were half a dozen armies stationed over there just looking for any excuse to start a war. It was a place where any rash impulsive decision would get you killed. Oh god Raelle was going to die

“No..no…NOOO”

With a determined stride she stormed out of the room and marched straight to Willa’s who was currently listening as someone who looked like a walking mountain was delivering a report

“This is not the time Scylla” said Willa in her annoyingly motherly voice

“Did you know? Did you know they sent to Raelle to this hellhole in Tarim Basin?”

“This is part of her journey. It’s her destiny” responded Willa calmly

“You need to do something. Send me in to get her. I can pose as Anacostia and find their location and…”

“This would be pointless. They are already traveling back to Fort Salem. There was an ambush by the Camarilla. Raelle Collar and Abigial Bellweather have been declared KIA” the goddamn emotionless drone who was reporting to Will said without batting an eye

“No…that can’t be true” the last time Scylla had felt such terror was when she watched her parents get executed. Raelle couldn’t be dead” We have to do something. We have to go and …”

“This will not be necessary. There is a great Work inside my daughter. She will emerge stronger from this and come back to us. This is her crucible “

“You are an insane” whispered Scylla as she looked at Willa in shock. She had only heard horror stories of the Camarilla and to think that someone would leave their daughter to them for a test? She was as bad as Alder

“Escort our guest to the basement. I feel she needs a time out for a while”

The brute grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her to the basement. A lot of people would say that Scylla is a bad operative. She failed her first mission and ended up puking at the parking lot of the mall instead of striking a mighty blow against the system. She failed to cover up Porter’s death and someone else had to take care of it and most obviously she fell in love with her target but they were wrong. She was smart, quick and very observant. She had noticed every detail about the house and remembered the broken step on the staircase. It was a simple matter of timing it for her to use it and knock out her guard. After a quick sleep induction she stashed him near the staircase and quickly went in Anacostia’s room

“If I free you can you take me to Tarim Basin?” she asked directly. She really didn’t have time for pleasantries

“……clearly you have gone insane if you think I will do this” said Anacostia with a laugh.

15 hours later in the skies above the Tarim Basin

It has been almost a day and Anacostia Quartermaine still couldn’t believe she was actually doing something so stupid and impulsive but when she heard that two of her own were behind enemy lines, that the Camarilla was back and that they likely had them she had to do something. Her first impulse was to head back and join whatever op Alder had surely been planning. Even if the cadets were declared KIA they would recover their people’s bodies and wipe out any remains of the Camarilla. But when Scylla told her that she had a way to find Raelle…well what else was there to do? Even if Anacostia came back with the info on the safe house Alder would still never let her take out Scylla again even to recover one of their own.

So despite her better judgment Anacostia decided to go get girls. She didn’t go completely off the reservation of course. While Scylla was busy stealing a car Anacostia had sent a letter with a bird containing all the information she had on the Spree safe house. The letter should have been waiting at Alder’s desk when she came back although Anacostia doubted that this would be enough to mollify her anger at Anacostia using her position to steal a plane with a known terrorist.

A terrorist that kept surprising her, she had talked with Izadora in detail about Scylla and while she had nothing but praise and described her one of her top students Anacostia didn’t expect for Scylla to be capable of such impressive Work as the one she did with Raelle. To invent a brand new way of communication, a crude one granted and nowhere near as practical as creating a Line but also undetectable and something that could be used even with a restraining collar? It was beyond impressive. Anacostia couldn’t help but think of how many talented girls like Scylla had been chewed by the system and never got to be the witches they could have been if they had the privilege of being born as High Atlantics.

“I can feel her” exclaimed Scylla interrupting Anacostia’s thoughts” She is here. You need to stop the plane!”

“That’s not how planes work Scylla!”

“Fine land it or whatever”

“I have marked the coordinates. We will find a landing spot and then we will proceed to ….

“I am not waiting “ Scylla said as she grabbed the salva packs and ran 

“Shit” cursed Anacostia as she put the plane on auto pilot and rushed after the crazy girl only to find she was already suited up and had applied the salva

“If I don’t make it …thank you. And tell Raelle that I love her” she said before jumping into what was likely going to be an almost certain death

Anacostia cursed her luck. Why did she have to get stuck looking after impulsive and borderline suicidal girls. The Bellweather unit was already bad for her blood pressure but Scylla was pushing her at the edge of a heart attack

Getting back into the cockpit she radioed in her location. She was not going to let these girls get them killed

“This is Sergeant Quartermaine. I have a lock on the enemy. I need all available forces “

Willa Collar quietly sipped her tea as the house around her was evacuated.

“I don’t t understand. Why did you let them go?” said Enyo with anger in her voice. Her red hair shined in the afternoon sun reflecting the constant rage inside the girl. She had been her right side woman for the last year but she lacked a vision beyond brute force

“It’s all part of the plan. The girl has a role to play”

“She is a failure. The worst operative I have ever trained. She lacks the will to….”

“Her weakness could prove beneficial. And if she goes against our plans…..well then you can do what you best”

Enyo smiled as she unsheathed her knife and ran her finger over the razor sharp edge.

Abigail Bellweather was not doing well. It had been a very hard few weeks first with losing Libba , being disillusioned with the military, failing to get into war college, being ambushed by the Camarilla and then apparently dying. Or at least it sure as hell felt like dying before Raelle did whatever the hell she did. Afterwards Abigail felt like a living god, like riding on a never ending wave of power together with Raelle. They felt each other, the ground beneath them, the sky above them, the fleeing Camarilla; they could even feel Tally as she was flown away. But as with all good things this also didn’t last long, whatever power Raelle had channeled fizzled out after a while and Raelle and Abigail found themselves in the middle of nowhere without any way to get back home or even call somebody. And if this wasn’t bad enough just an hour after the power had disappeared the Camarilla were on them again. Raelle and Scylla managed to kill the two that found them relatively easy despite their exhaustion but they were clearly forward scouts and the rest were coming soon

For over eight hours they ran and hid, fighting off the twisted work of the Camarilla at every turn but there was so only much one can do before your body gave up. Their feet could barely move, their throats were raw and bloody and they could barely speak much less use any seeds and that’s when they finally caught them. They woke up in manacles and restraining collars and tied to a pole, the monsters didn’t even bother to talk to them or even taunt them. They didn’t even regard them as human beings. Abigail knew that she was going to die and see her sister die with her. It was the most horrible thing that she could imagine and yet the Camarilla lived up to their fame and showed that their cruelty truly knows no bounds when they began setting up a camera. Abigail’s heart turned into ice when she understood that their deaths would be taped and shown to the whole world

Strangely enough her first thought was not about the Bellweather name and what shame this would bring. No her first thought was about Tally and how she would have to see their deaths. Abigail almost felt like laughing. Eighteen years of being taught that nothing mattered more then the Bellweather name and yet now in the span of a single year these girls have wormed their way into her heart to the point where she would chose them every time. Looking at the still unconscious Raelle she smiled despite the dire situation. Who would have taught that this little shit bird and Tally would teach her more about love and family then the entire Bellweather clan ever did

Raelle was feeling strange. She had been feeling strange ever since she was stabbed. It was like she was hearing a thousand little voices whispering in her year. The voices rose in a crescendo and screamed like a banshee when the explosion happened. Then for hours they would haunt her with every step, the only thing keeping her sane being her link with Abigail grounding her, making her feel human again. As the power faded so did the voices and as much as she could use the power right now part of her was glad that she could feel normal again.

But then something else had changed again just a few minutes ago. She felt connected again. Not like the voices or like the intimate connection of a Link. It was more subtle like a gentle summer breeze. It was strange but it felt nice. Safe. And whatever it was she could feel it growing stronger every minute. She looked at Abigail, they learned quickly the punishment for talking to each other from the hateful guard watching over them but she gave her a confident nod. She didn’t know why but instead of her usual pessimism she felt hope

Scylla landed roughly on the ground. She could barely feel her body. Jumping out of a plane at thirty five thousand feet was a lot more different then jumping of a low flying bat. And it’s been almost a year since she even jumped out of a bat. Necros got rushed through basic since their place in War College was practically guaranteed unless you really shit the bed. They were too rare and too valuable to be wasted as war meat.

Taking a moment to look around her surroundings for any immediate threats Scylla whispered over her hand concentrating on her bond with Raelle until she finally got the direction. She was still alive and seemed to be standing in one place. She hoped that this meant that this was hiding but she strongly suspected that it could be much worse. Through this terrain it would her at least half an hour to get there so Scylla wasted no time.

Of course there was the matter of actually getting there. She had only heard stories about the Camarilla but all the stories agreed on one thing. They were highly trained and very dangerous and had killed thousands of witches throughout the centuries. Who knows what tricked they had up their sleeves today and the forest was likely to be full of them . As much as she hated losing sight of Raelle even for a second she muted the link and concentrated her full attention on channeling the power of death which was indeed highly directable in combat. Being a Necro was very different then being a Knower. Experienced Knowers could give precise and accurate information right down to what color clothes the enemy was wearing and what they were feeling. Necros on other hand relied on the eyes and ears of the dead. This gave them a far greater range then Knowers but the information was quite vague since it relied more on interpretation then simply relying facts. Another difference was that Knowers could freely use their abilities everywhere while Necros was practically useless for recon unless there was recent death in the region. Luckily for Scylla the Camarilla were soaked in blood and death and even though they were far beyond her line of sight she could feel the pain and death being exuded by them quite easy. The dead were practically screaming and the news was not good. There was a lot of them, over thirty if her interpretation of the messages were right. She headed for the one closest to her judging by his movements he must one of the look outs. Her heart was yelling at her to just run and go straight for Raelle but she knew that she had to be careful so continued at a slow agonizing pace making sure to stay hidden as much as possible

When she was halfway to him she gasped in surprise when she felt the Scrying wave hit her location, luckily for her Izadora had drilled into their heads that you always hid your presence on the battlefield to the point where it had become a reflex for Scylla. An aura of death was one of the few ways one could hide from a Knower. Scylla had used it extensively not just for spying but also for sneaking off with Raelle away from prying eyes and she couldn’t be more grateful. How the hell did the Camarilla do this? Did they have witches working for them? Someone they forced to use Work for their twisted cause? This would explain how they managed to ambush Alder. The General was a beast. She would have decimated mere humans.

But when she came closer to the monster she realized that she was wrong. This was not a witch it was a man with strange device on his neck. And the device that practically screamed of death and pain. The Spree had found some twisted way to use their Work

Scylla weighed her options. The man had a very good vantage point and she had no idea just how much of their Work these devices allowed him to use. A frontal attack would be a bad idea since she was not good with the Scourge and it would require her to get far too close. Wind strike was also far too close for her liking. Blasting him would alert everybody so……the Necro way it is. Chanting slowly under her breath she touched the ground and launched the Necrotic wave. It moved in a thin like like a snake killing every blade of grass, every insect, every bacteria on it’s path until it finally connected with his foot. He screamed, not in pain but in surprise. There was no pain with a necrotic wave. It killed your nerve endings, your cells anything that could cause you to feel pain or anything for that matter. You only felt the terror of death spreading through your body, something which she personally experienced when she made the huge mistake of volunteering for one of Izadora’s demonstrations. That woman was psychotic but a damn good teacher. You never forgot her lectures.

Only an experienced Fixer or another Necromancer could react to save him now and whatever device they used was clearly not enough as wave spread through his entire body, his skin becoming ashen as he collapsed on the ground in mere seconds.

Scylla gagged slightly as she approached the body. The one problem with shape shifting was that it didn’t work on clothes. You still had to do it the old fashioned way. She was used to working with dead bodies but there was a difference between working in a sterile environment and actually wearing the clothes of the dead. After the very unpleasant change into his body and his clothes she quickly transferred the contents of her backpack into his as well. They would need a lot of these things to survive. Carefully she put the most valuable resources in her pocket. It was a simple tennis ball. As much she would like a bigger vessel she needed to control the radius of the bomb least she killed Raelle and Abigail as well

As she approached the camp she stopped just at the edge and put power in her connection with Raelle again. She could feel her now. She was on a small hill just beyond the edge of the camp and the one next to her must have been Abigail. Expanding her sense she knew that there were twenty six people in the camp, one guarding Raelle and Abigail while the others were resting in the camp. The three other lookouts were still at least twenty minutes away. This was not going to be easy

Unsheathing the machete she cut her forearm (only amateurs cut their palms) and made sure to spread the blood all over her face and stolen uniform. The more dramatic you look the less people paid attention to the details.

Stumbling into the camp with a loud scream and dramatically falling on the ground definitely did the job. Everybody rushed to her but sadly the guard stayed with Raelle. Nothing could be easy could it?

“Secure the camp. Find out who’s there now!” she heard a gruff voice shout before she was lifted by the lapels and had the same gruff voice scream directly in her face” Soldier get a hold of yourself and tell me what happened”

Scylla held tight on the ball in her pocket while whispering the spell to arm it

“Speak up goddamn it” said the man as he threw her to the ground and kicked her hard in the ribs to drive his point home clearly mistaking her spell for a man struggling to speak just as she planned. Locking eyes with him she could see the moment where he realized that there was something wrong

“We are the Spree” said Scylla with a vicious smile as she pulled the rapidly expanding tennis ball and threw it in the air

The man reached for his machete but it was too late. There was a loud shock wave in the air followed by utter silence before the Camarilla began killing themselves. Scylla quickly scurried out of there. Suicide by machete was a really messy business and she really didn’t want to be in the splash radius for longer then she needed to be. She quickly ran towards Raelle her senses telling that she had calculated the blast radius correctly. Thank the goddess Raelle had not been affected but sadly that meant that their guard was also unaffected. She had to be careful

Raelle heard it the same time Abigail did. Silence followed by the most horrible screams she had heard

“Commander what’s going? Commander?” their guard was freaking out in radio and not paying attention to them. Now was the time to act. As one the girls moved releasing themselves from their restraints. Raelle using the fact that she was tiny and that manacles weren’t designed for her child sized hands, she got some nasty scrapes but made her escape relatively intact while Abigail of course had to play the hardcore soldier and broke her own thumb. They both fell on the guard with the fury and attacked him with no mercy Abigial elbowing him in the jaw while Raelle punched him viciously between the legs. When he was down Abigail finished off by stomping on hard his skull. She quickly took his machete and gave it to Raelle since her broken thumb would prevent her from using it truly effectively

“Come here “said Abigail and she quickly found the keys for the restraining collar and freed Raelle and then herself” We have to be fast. We can’t let them take us alive”

“I am with you”

And that’s when another Camarilla appeared from the bushes and he looked terrifying .He was soaked in blood and looked like he came straight out of a nightmare

“No wait” he said uncharacteristically putting his hands up but Raelle and Abigail didn’t hesitate and launched a Wind Strike as one. Normally this would be enough to crush an enemy but they were so exhausted that the bastard barely flew a dozen feet. Raelle rushed to finish him but when she raised the machete to strike instead of the hated men she expected she found an unconscious Scylla on the ground’

“What the fuck is your girlfriend doing here Raelle?”asked Abigail looking as stunned as Raelle felt

General Sarah Alder has been alive for more than three hundred years and has been through a lot but the last forty eight hours really were some of the most horrible in her life. The events in Tarim had been horrible enough on their own but it didn’t stop there. En route to home Alder had received a news almost a shocking as the re emergence of the Camarilla. Anacostia has disappeared together with Scylla only to reappear twelve hours later and commander a plane with an unknown girl matching Scylla’s description. Izadora had diplomatically suggested that someone may be posting as Anacostia because she knew very well what a bad idea it would be to suggest to Alder’s face that the women she had raised as a daughter could have betrayed her.

Alder knew that Anacostia had a soft spot for this orphan but to go this far? What was she thinking? Sadly she didn’t have time to think about this as the Camarilla took precedence over everything. She spent the whole flight back in talks with the Hague, China and virtually every single witch representative over the world. In sixteen hours she achieved more than in the last three hundred years, an actual worldwide cease fire between all factions. It was unheard off and yet all witches understood the threat that the Camarilla posed. Even the ones whose ancestors hadn’t suffered under these monsters understood the threat of humans being able to use their work through twisted devices

Hmm perhaps world peace would be enough leverage to fix things with the President. Puppeting her had been an extreme move and she was afraid that she might have to kill her as well but this? She could see the President letting it pass in light of recent events. She really hated killing presidents. It was always such a mess. Especially in modern times, it had been decades and people still had questions about Kennedy

As she entered her office she had to take a moment to center herself again. The grief coming from Craven was nearly crippling. She wished she had the time to console her new daughter but world events waited for no one. Just as she was about to pick the phone and call the President she noticed a bird sitting unnaturally still on her window with a message on its foot

“Impressive” said Alder as she read the note. When Anacostia proposed her gamble she had dismissed it out of hand. She thought that the girl had been a dead end and yet Anacostia had managed to do the impossible. Find a Spree safe house.

She contacted Izadroa immediately to set up a strike team while she went about doing the annoying chores of talking to the President.

Tally hurt. That’s all she could feel since she saw her sisters die. A never ending pain as if someone has ripped her heart out. She could sense the connection to Alder and the other Biddies , it was offering relief a way to lessen the pain but she rejected it. If all she had left from her sisters was the pain then she would hold onto to it with every ounce of strength she had even if it killed her

As she followed Alder and other Biddies in what was supposed to be the Spree’s safe house she was just moving through the motions. She didn’t care where she was, what she was doing, all she could think of were her sisters. She didn’t become a Biddy because of Alder, she became one because she thought that Alder’s raw power was the only chance they had of getting out of there and it had turned out to be all for nothing

She could hear the officer telling Alder that the house was secured, she could hear the reports, she could see and feel Alder’s anger as she began talking with a mirror. The same way Scylla did in the bathroom, yet another painful memory that reminded her of her sisters. She tuned out most the conversation but when she saw a message in the mirror suddenly it was like a tidal wave washed over her. She heard the Biddies hiss, she saw all the soldiers put their hands on their scourges when she roughly shoved Alder out of the way. No one had treated her way much less a Biddy but she didn’t care

“What do you mean they are alive?”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes you guessed right. Enyo is mall girl  
> Sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes. English is my third language


End file.
